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Are you ready to introduce finger foods to baby? Sweet potato for baby finger foods is a great way to start, and this post breaks down some of the ways to prepare and introduce sweet potatoes to babies.

I’m in the camp that sweet potato as a baby finger food is great. It’s easy, it’s versatile, and it’s very nutritionally dense, things that you want when serving food to a baby.

Once your baby starts eating more solids and holding foods more, you can start to move away from just serving mashed and pureed foods, and more solids and finger foods for them.

It’s exciting once babies become toddlers. So many sweet potato recipes for toddlers to serve depending on the time of day, snack vs. meal, and where you’ll be eating.

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Examples of Sweet Potato Finger Foods

Sweet potatoes for babies are also so versatile, and really are a great solution to finger foods.

From the obvious sweet potato fries, sweet potatoes can also be prepared in several other different ways and served as healthy finger foods for toddlers.

Consider these options:

• diced or in the air fryer
• sweet potato chips or nachos
• patties or meatballs for babies
• mixed into french toast or egg sticks
• fritters or nuggets
• spaghetti or pasta
• pancakes or waffles (these waffles for babies use sweet potatoes and spinach)
• sweet potato quickbreads
• popsicles (we love these pineapple coconut popsicles with sweet potato)
• sweet potato tater tots
• sweet potato muffins or cookies
• kabobs mixed with meat or an iron source

You can easily mash a sweet potato into any of these foods to make sweet potato finger food recipes, and provide nutrients to babies.

Though not finger foods, we also use sweet potatoes in sweet potato smoothies often, too.

How to Cook Sweet Potato for Baby Finger Foods

There’s a few different ways you can cook and cut sweet potatoes for baby finger foods.

How to make sweet potato for baby finger food will depend on how you want to serve it, as well as how skilled baby is (ie – can he handle harder foods yet, or still mostly soft textures)?

And don’t forget you can always make extra to freeze – for a more complete list of freezable foods for toddlers, check out toddler friendly freezer recipes.

In the Oven

One of the most popular ways to serve sweet potato as baby finger foods are to cut sweet potatoes into fry shape, and cook with your favorite choice of fat (olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil) and serve to baby.

You can cook them in the oven or even the air fryer if you want a crispier finish and faster process.

Sweet potato fries for babies are soft and easy to chew, even without teeth. I definitely recommend using these silicone baking mats.

Adding sweet potato to baked goods is another common way, and these also tend to work as some of the easiest toddler snacks.

You can add some herbs (be careful on the salt), and serve with a dipping sauce, like full fat greek yogurt, peanut butter, butter, mashed avocado, hummus or oil, or this sweet potato spinach baby food recipe.

It’s a great creamy way to get more nutrients and fat in for baby.

In the Air Fryer

Similar to the oven, you can use an air fryer to make sweet potato fries or wedges, which you can serve as a finger food for babies.

This method cooks the sweet potatoes a little quicker, and may work better for frozen sweet potato options.

To make sweet potato fries in the air fryer, combine sweet potatoes with spices in a bowl with a little oil. Place in an even layer and cook for 10-12 minutes.

I cook them similarly to how I cook my air fryer parsnips.

Mashed

Sweet potatoes can also be cooked and mashed, and mixed together with many other ingredients. This technique works well for meatballs, burgers or patties.

I also use mashed sweet potatoes in many baked good recipes, like muffins, quick breads and sweet potato oatmeal cookies.

I also serve mashed sweet potatoes to the girls. I’ll either bake them in the oven and scoop the interior out, or microwave them for 6-8 minutes (depending on size) and then peel off the skin.

Pureed

Sweet potatoes are also very easy to puree into a baby food texture, however, this is less common for those looking to serve sweet potato baby finger food.

Check out more recipes for sweet potatoes for baby led weaning for more pureed options.

Spiralized

You can also spiralize sweet potatoes using a spiralizer. This is fun for mixing into other pastas or serving on its own as sweet potato spaghetti.

Kids love the shapes, and this works really well for sweet potato baby finger food recipes.

You can also add spiralized sweet potatoes to any patty recipe, like these turmeric salmon cakes.

Sweet Potato Nutrition Facts

One of the reasons I’m so keen on serving sweet potatoes to babies is because they are so nutritionally dense.

They are naturally sweet without any added sugars, which makes them great for mixing with other foods to sweeten them or to serve alone.

A medium sweet potato contains around 100 calories, 4-5 grams of fiber, and is also high in Vitamins A and C, both of which are important for immunity. Immunity is an ever-important nutrition topic for babies, toddlers, and kids.

It seems like they are constantly being subjected to germs and bringing them everywhere. And they are still developing their immune systems, which is why these nutrients are so important to get through food.

Vitamin A is also involved in vision, and Vitamin C helps with skin, nail, and hair health.

My favorite thing about sweet potatoes is their high amounts of antioxidants, which can help reduce inflammation in the body and contribute to overall wellness.

What makes sweet potatoes for kids even more appealing is that they come in many different colors and varieties, all with slightly differing nutrition content.

Depending on the region in which you live, you may find white, orange, purple, red or even yellow varieties. 

When serving sweet potato for baby as finger foods, you want to avoid high amounts of sugar, saturated fat and sodium.

Some of these recipes may need to be adjusted slightly (ie – leave out the salt, sugar). For the most part, though, these recipes are safe to serve to babies of all ages, and will work great as babies age through toddlerhood, too.

And if you can introduce them early, there’s a good chance that babies will have more of a palate for these flavors through childhood.

Lots of exposure is necessary for some kids, and that’s okay.

So, enjoy these sweet potato finger food recipes and inspiration.

I hope you enjoy these sweet potato finger foods. Make sure to leave a comment or review!